An analysis of the concept of friend in classical Turkish poetry

Classical Turkish literature is a rich literature that has changed and developed over the centuries in terms of content and sources. This richness in Classical Turkish literature is also reflected in poetry and poets have included thousands of concepts in their poems. The poets, who attributed various meanings to these concepts they used in their poems by making use of literary arts, considerably expanded the depth of meaning of Classical Turkish poetry. In this study, the concept of friend, which is expressed by the words 'hem-dem, hem-pâ, hem-derd, hem-nişîn, hem-ser, hem-zebân, hem-râh, hem-reh, hem-sohbet, hem-râz, hem-hâne, hem-sâz, enîs, refîk, yâr, yârân, celîs, ahbâb, ehibbâ dem-sâz, ahibbâ, ihvân' in poetry, is discussed. The study aims to determine the frequency and diversity of the use of the concept of 'friend' in Classical Turkish poetry. In the study, 951 of the couplets containing the concept of friend in 193 divas selected between the 13th and 19th centuries were selected. The study is divided into 10 main headings and 42 subheadings based on the elements that poets see as friends in the couplets. The main headings are as follows: religious elements, emotions, human elements, lover and elements belonging to the lover, elements belonging to the cloth, musical instruments, heroes of love mesnevis, true friend and other elements. The couplets analysed under these headings reveal how the poets express the connotations aroused by the concept of friend by using literary arts. As a result of the study, it has been determined that the concept of 'friend' is frequently used in poems and the elements seen as friends vary. The arts used by the poets while using this concept were revealed based on the couplets. In the analysed couplets, it has been determined that the friend has various functions and there are different uses instead of the typical use of friend. It has been concluded that the poets mostly use the word 'hem-dem' when describing the concept of friend and that they mostly see the lover and the elements belonging to the lover as friends. At the end of the study, the number of usage of the words meaning friend, the number of usage of the elements seen as friend in couplets, the number of divan and couplets according to centuries are given in graphs. Keywords: Classical Turkish poetry, friend, mate, friendship, analysis, literary arts.